May 22, 2015

Noon Art

Two of us organize noon art at our local elementary school for students in the first through fifth grades. We usually reach about 150 to 200 students each time and it is such a fantastic blast! I love providing unstructured art projects and find out what they can come up with. Recently we placed fabric, masking tape and staplers on the tables – check out what they came up with:

We had 9 tables of supplies laid out.

Fabric, masking tape and staplers.

This was just the beginning.

More kept coming and coming.

Bags.

The tables were so full, kids moved to the blacktop.

Bag with handles.

Smaller bag.

She decided to embellish the whole thing in tape.

Look at this flap!

It folds over to close.

Using lots of staples.

Yarn handle.

More pockets.

Front.

Back.

Handle made of tape.

Front totally covered in masking tape.

The back covered as well with a different design.

As you can see, we had a really good time! I can’t wait for the next one!

April 2, 2015

St. Patrick’s Day

I forgot to share with you our Noon Art for St. Patrick’s Day and we had so much fun!

This is my sample.

This is my little sample – very simple and plain…just wait ’till you see what they all came up with!

We set the tables up with all the supplies prior to noon art.

Look at that room full of students!! We reach between 100 and 150 students each time.

Each one is different!

Creative.

Pop up.

Popping up!

A family of shamrocks.

Creative.

So cool!

Lots and lots of color.

Cutie pie.

Headband.

Crazy!

Traditional.

Cute!

There is no end to what these kids can think up!

February 27, 2015

Noon Art Cup Weaving

Back in December I posted about a trip I made to Illinois to visit my oldest daughter. She took me to a museum and there I saw a great idea that I could bring to the students at my elementary school. I couldn’t wait to show it to the kids!

Set up.

Since noon art is during their lunch break, we really only have about half an hour to get the kids in and out. In that time, we usually serve between 75 and 150 students depending upon the project and the interest level. Set up is very important. Before this particular session, I prepared the cups and wound little balls of yarn (about 200 of them!).

Working

Each student that came in to the multi purpose room for noon art took a cup and started weaving. They didn’t have to finish up a ball of yarn, they just wove as much as they wanted, cut the working yarn, added new yarn and kept weaving.

Working.

Many great woven cups were created!

Finishing up.

For some reason, red, white and blue was a huge hit on this day. There were quite a few with this same color scheme.

Done!

The two above are just a sample of what was created – I did not have time to take pictures of all of them. But rest assured, they were all beautiful!!

December 31, 2014

Noon Art Plans

In November, I went to visit my daughter at the University of Illinois. She took me to a fabulous museum that had a special exhibit on Guatemalan weavers and weaving. The textiles that these people produce are simply astounding and amazing!! I could have stayed there the whole day just looking around.

Cup weaving

There was a station set up for kids to do fun weaving on a styrofoam cup – my daughter and I just had to take part in it as well! This was such a fun and easy craft to make. I think the kids at our local elementary school will love to make these and since I run the noon art program there I am planning to make this our next project.

Small balls of yarn.

There is quite a bit of prep for this activity and the first step is to roll small balls of yarn for the kids to work with. We have about 25 minutes for the activity and approximately 150-175 students stop by to take part in noon art. I have learned over the years that preparation is the key to success in meeting the needs of noon art!! I will update as soon as we have this activity to show you what the students came up with!

December 1, 2014

Inspiration

Crafts that use recycled good always sing to me. I love to see how different “trash” items can be repurposed. At the noon art program that I run, most of the art projects are created using some sort of recycled items (toilet paper rolls, cereal boxes, tin cans, etc.). Recently I was in a small little shop and saw these:

Trivet

Coasters

All of these are made out of newspaper and I think they look totally awesome! I have also seen similar items made from magazines as well. I would really like to learn how to make these for family and friends.

October 7, 2014

Noon Art

I partner with a friend to put on noon art at our elementary school twice a month. This week we did ghouls from “crafts by amanda“. They kids had soooo much fun!!

My Sample.

This is the sample I made – straight from Amanda’s site :o) And below are the wonderful ghouls that the kids came up with. Take a quick look! Aren’t they so creative!!